Ah, the dreaded kale. Are YOU wondering how to cook kale? The first year I did a CSA (community supported agriculture, where you purchase a share and get 1-2 bags of vegetables each week from a farm) I had no idea what anything was. There was a large chalkboard indicating how much of each thing you were supposed to pick up. Luckily it was listed in order, so by process of elimination I could determine what the mystery vegetables were. One of the things that were most difficult to differentiate were the leafy greens.
At first I didn’t even try to keep the names straight. I just put “greens you’re supposed to cook” in one bag and “greens for salad” in another. Ever have a salad that made you cry and tasted like horseradish? I have. That was before I knew the difference between lettuce, arugula, radicchio, etc. But today we’ll focus on kale.
For three years, I chopped it up and used it in scrambled eggs. Or gave it away to our friends, who tried cooking with kale and decided it wasn’t for them. That stem sure is tough. Then last summer I took a “cooking with greens” class and discovered that you’re not supposed to eat the stem – or if you do, it needs to be cooked separately. That was a huge “aha!” moment. All the ideas below are for de-stemmed kale. My dog LOVES to chew on the stalks. Or you can save the stem for soup. So here, without further ado, is the
Top 10 Things to Do with Kale
- Chop it up, saute’, and scramble with eggs.
- Add a handful to yogurt, berries, and blend to make a green smoothie.
- For a healthful addition to a cold pasta salad, add chopped kale to the pasta the last 10 minutes of the boil. Drain. Add pesto or your favorite oil and vinegar dressing and additional chopped vegetables (a great way to get rid of those random vegetables!)
- Kale chips.
- Add to your favorite stir fry recipe.
- Add to any soup.
- Greens in peanut sauce.
- Saute’ and add to your favorite hummus recipe (pretty AND nutritious!)
- Confetti Kale.
- Kale Potato Soup.
What are your favorite kale recipes?
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